‘I would like to return to the PGA Tour in the future’ — Sergio Garcia aims for shock comeback after LIV Golf defection
Sergio Garcia
Sergio Garcia wants to be European Ryder Cup captain on Spanish soil in 2031 and he’s already targeting a shock return to the PGA Tour he abandoned with such gusto in 2022.
LIV Golf’s bankruptcy has allowed the Spaniard to successfully apply to be freed from his contract, and Europe’s record points scorer is looking to his long-term future, which includes another playing appearance and the captaincy at Denis O’Brien’s Camiral resort near Girona.
“There are still things to do, and it’s not all wrapped up,” Garcia (47) told Ten-Golf.com of his LIV Golf situation.
As for the PGA Tour, he said: “I would like to return to the PGA Tour in the future, especially thinking about the Champions Tour. I am 47 years old, and I would like to play that circuit when I turn 50, especially the Champions Majors. It would be nice.”
The former Masters champion will have to serve a one-year suspension before returning to the PGA Tour, which he was eager to leave when LIV Golf emerged in 2022.
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The Spaniard let slip that he was about to join the Saudi-funded circuit when he got into a rules dispute during the Wells Fargo Championship just a month before the inaugural event.
“I can’t wait to leave this tour. I can’t wait to get out of here, my friend,” Garcia told a rules official when informed he’d exceeded the three-minute limit to search for a lost ball. “A couple of more weeks and I won’t have to deal with you any more.”
His immediate goal is to make Luke Donald’s 2027 European team via DP World Tour events, or possibly join the backroom team.
“I have spoken with Luke and told him that I am going to do everything possible to be on the team in 2027, and if I don’t make it, I have made it clear to him that he can count on me to help the team in whatever way he sees fit,” Garcia said ahead of the Open de Espana, where Tom McKibbin and Shane Lowry return to action.
The big sticking point is that Garcia remains ineligible for the Ryder Cup captaincy or vice-captaincy, having given up DP World Tour membership when he joined LIV Golf.
However, it appears he is trying to negotiate a change in his situation with one eye on the 2031 captaincy.
He won the Spanish Open in 2002, but three-time champion Jon Rahm cannot chase his fourth title at Madrid’s Club de Campo as he and his wife await the arrival of their fourth child.
It was announced yesterday evening that Rahm has also extricated himself from his LIV Golf situation due to the “unacceptable” terms offered for the proposed relaunch of the breakaway series.
“Mr Rahm has independently reviewed the proposed terms of LIV 2.0…and has determined that those terms are unacceptable to him, and he will not be participating going forward in LIV 2.0,” attorney John Beck told a bankruptcy hearing.
It was reported Beck told the court that Rahm and LIV are working to finalise a separation agreement by October 15
His compatriot Eugenio Chacarra, who is drawn with Lowry and Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed this week, is happy he left the breakaway circuit at the end of 2024.
“I saw what I saw and took the decision I did and, well, in the end it looks like I was the cleverest, no?” said Chacarra, who made $7.39m with LIV Golf but has since won three DP World Tour titles and earned virtual promotion to the PGA Tour.
The Oklahoma-based Spaniard was invited by Donald to last month’s post-Irish Open get-together in Adare Manor and is clearly a Ryder Cup rookie in waiting.
“I think that right now, the way I’m playing, I’m one of the best European players at the moment and I have to keep practising to continue being one of them so I can be at that Ryder Cup,” said Chacarra, who is third in the Race to Dubai but nursing a fractured toe after stubbing it in the dark last week.
Lowry is also desperate to be in Adare, and he’s bracing himself for a Madrid birdie-fest as players chase a place in The Open and a Masters invitation.
The world No 39 has had two weeks off since he followed his 11-shot Amgen Irish Open win at Doonbeg with a tie for 21st at Wentworth.
He knows he’ll have to go low to win an event where the average winning score over the past six years is 19 under par.
“It’s very soft this year, softer than I remember,” said Lowry, who partners Reed and Chacarra. “But it’s in good shape, and we’re going to get a good week of weather.
“So it could be a nice week, and the scoring’s going to be pretty low out here. So hopefully, I can get out there and get after it, and give it a good run.”
The PGA Tour is in Japan for the Baycurrent Classic, but 101st-ranked Séamus Power didn’t make the field as the race heats up to make the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings who will enjoy full status next year.
Meanwhile, Anna Foster, Sara Byrne and Áine Donegan join Lauren Walsh at the LET’s Korea Championship.
Walsh is exempt, and 38th-ranked Foster looks certain to make the top 70 who keep their cards. But Byrne (59th) and Donegan (76th) have work to do.
Three events remain on the HotelPlanner Tour, and Abu Dhabi Challenge winner Liam Nolan (12th) is looking to consolidate his place in the top 15 who will be awarded DP World Tour cards at the end of the season when he tees it up in the Hainan Challenge.
Only the top 45 after next week’s Hangzhou Open qualify for the Grand Final, leaving 53rd-ranked Gary Hurley chasing at least one big week in China.
